Coping with the Storms of Life
Many of those in the SW Florida area have just gone through a Catastrophic hurricane and are struggling with the aftermath including a variety of emotions. You may feel that you are going through a storm not physical but emotional due to life circumstances. You may feel anger, irritability, grief, loss, depression, anxiety feelings of helplessness, hopelessness disbelief, shock and numbness. You may feel exhausted after being in a hypervigilant state. I would like to offer some words of encouragement to help you get through this difficult time.
I myself have been weathered many storms both physical and emotional. I lost both of my parents when I was in college. My mother had a brain tumor which was the size of a grapefruit when it was found and died at age 46. My father died shortly after at age 49. My siblings and I had to sell a home in a quaint town that I that we grew up in that held a lifetime of memories. It was so much loss all at once it felt like a tidal wave and I could not catch my breath. I was studying counseling at the time and barely holding on by a thread. I have had other storms including having a once high functioning son to being deemed totally disabled.
While I have learned a lot though my counseling training., I have learned more through going through life storms. I would like to pass on some encouragement and offer comfort to those who are suffering. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction that that we will be able to comfort those who ae in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by Gid,”
1) We walk thorough valleys we don’t stay in them. God is with us in our valleys. Keep on walking one step at a time you will get through. Although it may seem like you are walking through thick fog and you cannot see the road before you. Keep on walking. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 23:4.
2} We need to rely on the Lord who is our Helper in times of difficulty. I really did not grow up in a Christian home but learned to come to faith in the Lord in the storm. Ask him to help you. He will send you help.
God is Our Refuge and Strength A very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1, For I am the Lord your God who upholds your right hand who says to you. Do not fear. I will help you. Isaih 41:13
3} Talk about your feelings, journal, don’t suppress them. You have to process your emotions. Seek profession counseling if you are having difficulty coping. The only way to process your loss and grief is face your pain.
4} Don’t isolate. Connect with other people. Join a church if you don’t have family. The church became a great support to me over the years. Join a support group.
5). Try to have a daily routine, eat at the same time, try to have same sleep routine. Many people want to stay in bed and isolate. Routine brings normalcy to your life.
6) Avoid alcohol and drugs or relying to self-medicating. Many people try to numb the pain after a trauma which only exasperates your problems.
7) Take extra care of yourself. Eat healthy, exercise, pamper yourself. Learn to relax. Remember to take care of you.
8) Be careful what you fill your mind with. Avoid feeling your mind with negative media images. Limit time on social media. The constant bombardment of negative news can be overwhelming. Feed your mind with positive things. Meditate on the word of God.Meditate on one verse.
8) Focus on one step at a time, don’t look at the staircase. Break large tasks into bite size chunks. Take it one moment at a time, one day at a time. Breathe you will get through this. Try to focus on the present.
9) Accept help. Its ok to accept help. You can pay it forward. Fred Roger’s mother would say, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping”.
10) Don’t give up. Tomorrow is a new day. Persevere don’t quit.
11) Know that the Lord loves you so much he gave his one and only Son to die for you. He cares for you and is close to the broken hearted. Meditate on scripture. Ask him to help you.
”He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds” Psalm 147:3, Then thy cried to the Lord in their trouble And he brought them out of their distress. He caused the storm to be still. So that the waves of the sea were hushed. Psalm 107:28-29
12) Elizabeth Elliott stated, "The deepest things that I have Learned in my own Life have come from the deepest suffering. And out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires. Have come the deepest things that I know about God."